Pena Palace, once the summer home of Portuguese royalty, is over the top in every way. The palace is a giant, red-and-yellow, Romantic mash-up of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Neo-Islamic, and Neo-Renaissance architecture. And the surrounding 500-acre park is a sprawling, dense labyrinth of trees and follies. If you have only a few hours here, it can be easy to miss the special details — so make sure to look out for these hidden gems of Pena Palace.

Crazy Faces

I’m not sure why King Ferdinand II and his then-amateur architect, Baron Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege, decided to add so many funny faces to Pena Palace. But it’s worth keeping your eye out for them — they’re all over the place.

Trompe L’Oeil Paintings

Many of the rooms inside the palace are painted using trompe l’oeil techniques, which create the illusion of depth and space. Make sure to look up!

Wild Archways

Baron von Eschwege loved a grand archway, so they’re all over the place. And in keeping with the eclectic architecture, they come in all different shapes and decorative styles.

Mini Castles for Ducks

King Ferdinand and Baron von Eschwege, apparently assisted by someone named Baron von Kessler (about whom I can find absolutely nothing), worked together on the garden design. One of the highlights of the garden is a series of five water features, called the Valley of the Lakes, that cascades down the hill at the foot of the palace grounds. As an unusual bonus, each lake has its own little (or not-so-little) domicile for the resident waterfowl. In 1860, these housed 9 mallards, 4 teals, 5 common ducks, 11 geese, and 2 swans.

Elaborate Tiles

The designers had tiles custom-made for the palace, including many in high relief.

Garden Follies

Garden follies — little structures like temples, churches, or other permanent structures — were a fixture of Romantic landscape design. Pena Palace has these in spades, including the Little Birds Fountain, the Temple of Columns, and the Small Chapel.

Green Gems in Pena Palace

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so much green stone and glass in one place, but I was particularly struck by the idea of an all-green bust.

Bridges, Benches, and Garden Nooks

Another feature of Romantic-era landscape design was the inclusion of small spaces in which one could immerse oneself in nature. These are true hidden gems of Pena Palace, tucked away in hard-to-find spots that you can have all to yourself. Baron von Eschwege only believed in using natural asphalt, and there are examples of it all over the park.

Original Furnishings

Unlike most of the palaces in Sintra (Biester being a notable exception), Pena Palace is filled with original 19th-century home decor. Among other things, below you’ll find a bidet (ordered from Britain) and a 17th-century rosewood bed used by the king and queen.

Tall Trees: Garden Imports

One of the many projects in the creation of Pena Park was bringing in fantastic tree species from many different continents. Today, these trees — including the cedar and the sequoia below — have grown to make the park a wild and woolly place.

Sea Creatures in Sculpture

In keeping with the Manueline style of architecture, shells and marine life are incorporated into everything from palace mosaics to stonework. There’s even a garden feature called the Lake of the Shell, named after a 16th-century niche built by monks who lived in the hills, which was lined with shells from nearby beaches.

The Wall Walk

It’s easy to miss the chance to walk along the palace walls, because the signage for it is both tiny and in an out-of-the-way corner. But if you’re in this part of the palace …

… look to the left of that arched doorway on the bottom of the yellow wall in the photo above, and you’ll find the start to the walk. It’ll take you to great views of Pena Castle itself …

… and out to the Moorish Castle in the distance (you can read more about the Moorish Castle in this post).

Enjoy the palace — I can guarantee you’ll never see another one like it!

It’s worth buying entry tickets in advance at Parques de Sintra.

Beyond the Hidden Gems of Pena Palace

• Thinking about visiting more Sintra palaces? Here’s a guide to finding your next favorite.
• Ready for Sintra’s mystical side? See my full guide to Quinta da Regaleira, Sintra’s most symbolic and mysterious estate.
• Prefer lush gardens and ornate architecture? Don’t miss Monserrate Palace, Sintra’s romantic showstopper.
• Starting your trip in Portugal’s capital? Here are 14 fun things to do in Lisbon before you head to Sintra.